30.12.06

24.12.06

Ah, we are sooo taking the holidays easy! We didn't do a massive last minute shopping spree, we didn't clean every corner of the house, we are gonna have lasagna for dinner :)

DD is happy, she got her "big present" a couple of minutes ago, the cartoons are on, the rice porridge is getting done and, oh well, it's Christmas!

I'm planning to catch up with my Christmas journal today and tomorrow; I'm already giggling over the Xmas tree entry. We are not gonna have a tree this year (unless DH goes and gets one like in ten minutes) so DD and I are going to decorate DH :) I'm not sure if he will let me post photos, though!

11.12.06

JournallingWe are still forming our own traditions as a family - last year was the first time we had a Xmas tree! Some things have been cleared out, however, e.g. no ham-eaters in our table. Our main course on Xmsa Eve is lasagna and we have vanilla ice cream for dessert. At least the rice porridge in the morning is a "traditional" thing. We give out presents in "house style": Santa leaves little notes and hints where to find the hidden pressies.

(hidden journalling under the stamped image: "at this point in our lives, we are not quite as serene and peaceful as I'd like us to be, but getting there, maybe"

Day 10: Wrapping presents

Disclaimer: If you are particular about your Christmans presents, the following journalling may cause you some distress.

Oh no, another of my little secrets comes out... I recycle wrapping papers. DD's and DH's presents get the best of the pick and the more crumbled ones go to DD when she wants to wrap up the little pressies she makes. The few presents that I give to friends get a brown paper with stamped images.

(the little parcels at the bottom of the papers are samples from my collection and the years... oh well, yes I keep papers from 2004...)

9.12.06

Catching up...I've done all the journalling in time, so I'm not falling too far behind!

For the good and less perfect memories I went into two layers, the "good" page can be opened up to reveal the "bad" one. I'm not gonna go into details on the bad memories here, but the stamped image gives you a good idea as its title says "confusion".

Journalling for the good memories (some of the names have been faded out): Xmas has always been a time to be with family and relatives -- food, laughter, talk, tons of coffee and an endless mountain of chocolate. At home, mom used to cook the traditional dishes and the kids with their families always gathered together, sometimes auntie's family, too. On the 25th, we always went to auntie's house, where all my cousins also showed up. Presents were usually at least funny, sometimes even practical. The best one ever was my nephew's pressie when he was about 10, we packed up a camera in a box that came with a multivitamin drink. As he unwrapped the paper, he kept his cool and thanked us but it was really difficult to get him to open the box.Oh Xmas, oh memories!

7.12.06

Journalling: I think I always had an advent calendar when I was a kid, often one made by my sister, with little pressies! After mom died, I skipped several Xmases but of course DD has brought back the waiting for the holidays in our lives. In 2002 Anja from Germany surprised me with a lovely star shaped calendar... and with 24 little goodies! Now I fill the same little boxes for DD, with hair pins, stickers and candy. My regular calendar always fills up for December; Bdays, DD's hobbies, get-togethers with friends. Not too much time to clean or shop, but it's fine with me! And this year I have a chocolate calendar, thanks to Kaya!

Oh and I did the challenge part by adding number 19 (here we get the presents on the 24th so it's 19 days until Xmas for us) by sketching the numbers, inking them and embossing with clear embossing powder).

Journalling: Dashing through the snowThe Finnish winter is all about snow and coldness. It's December, the temperatures are above zero and it's raining. It's dark.If there is no snow on Christmas, I don't know what becomes of our plans. DD dreams of sledding, I'd like to take a little walk before coming home to hot coffee and chocolates. Also Aksu the Cat is usually taken for a Christmas walk, he doens't like the snow but hates the rain so there better be snow before Christmas Eve.

(I need to apply some more chalks on this one, lol, it looks bland!)

Day 3

Journalling: Christmas cards

Some years I make more cards than others, last year I topped 50, but I don't think I'll make as many this year. DD has learned the cardmaking from me, and some of the best pre-Christmas moments are when we take out our supplies, put the candy somewhere near and work away. One needs energy!

3.12.06

Wow, thanks everyone for your kind comments on my first Xmas journal page! I am trying to visit as many blogs as possible, but there are quite a few participants... I love all the different styles and viewpoints I've seen so far, the talent you all have, it's simply amazing!

I've started, supersimple but I figured this is the only way can I keep the thing going! A lot of inking and chalking, a black pen a couple of stamps should do it.

Journalling (quick translation): Christmas declarationThis is my Xmas journal for 2006. It's strange that I'm doing this because I don't even really like Xmas. However, I want to look at the past and tell those stories on to my DD. She loves Xmas! I'm doing this journal for Shimelle's online class so the topics follow her prompts but the contents are all mine. I'll be sharing some pages with the world but some will be for my eyes only, and well, for DD.

2.12.06

Starting December first, I will keep a Christmas journal. In it, I will write something every day to reflect on the holidays of my past, enjoy the holidays of the present and dream about the holidays of my future. To some, this will be a stack of papers and trivial scribbles, but not to me. I am taking back my Christmas, I am letting it be something I relish and, most importantly, I am giving at least fifteen minutes every day to myself no matter how crazy this season becomes. I hope you will share, encourage and understand as I make something with my own hands, my own words and my own memories.

I may post some or all of my entries here. Other artists are doing this with me, and you can see their work here. Or you may join us .

Above all: enjoy the season. I will try my best to do so, but you gotta understand something, I used to love Christmas as a kid, these days I have such mixed feelings about it... Maybe working on this journal will bring back the joy of Christmas for me, and also give me a chance to share some fun memories with my DD.

27.11.06

26.11.06

So my desk is clean and I'm ready to finalise the album from our family holiday to Germany in 2005. I had the photos printed like two weeks after the trip and I've started to work on the album many times, you know, well planned work.... Here comes the but, I never kept a journal during the trip, and it's really difficult to produce wonderful, deep and meaningful journaling when all you remember is that it was really hot and you carried huge bottles of water around. So I called a family meeting, we sat down and looked at the photos and managed to squeeze out a couple of fun memories. DD journalled on one of the pages, as did DH, that was cool.

Jotting down notes every day of the trip would have helped. Finishing the album after the trip would have helped. Being brave and just getting to it finally helped.

25.11.06

14 vintage portraits of men and women, from my grandmother's belongings. Unfortunately I have no clue who these people are, presumably her relatives and friends. (the reason I don't know is that she died before I was born and my dad died when I was 15 and at that time family history was not a priority...)

24.11.06

I'm cleaning my stuff, in a desperate attempt to create a space on my desk that would allow me to work on something larger than ATCs... So I'm filling up an envelope with smallish pieces of paper, fibers, punchies, stamped images, what-have-you. Wanna have it? First person in Finland to comment to this post gets the goodies!

19.10.06

I'm off to Freiburg, Germany on Sunday, and before that have about a zillion things to do. I'm working on my "you think you know me"-project, but have nothing to post yet... But you can head here to see the amazing creations the other participants have been posting!

If I can get to a computer in Germany, I will stop by next week to say "hi" :) Oh, must add one more thing to my to-do list: google craftstores in Freiburg!

9.10.06

8.10.06

We're taking it easy this weekend; DD had her figure skating practise yesterday, followed by a nap and a movie (my bag of candy was empty before the movie even started...). Today it's gymnastics for DD, two loads of laundry for me and then I'm making two sets of brown ATCs! Gotta love a weekend like this!

Last day of September and the time to wrap up my ”Spend less”-month… Moneywise I did ok; I kept my shopping budget and while I did have a few coffees and beers along the road, I still have a few euros left. My in-laws stopped by with a huge sack of potatoes and bottles of home made blackcurrant juice and berries and oh yes, they brought coffee, too, so we have a great start for October!

I didn’t buy any craft supplies and somewhere along the third week I stopped visiting my fav. online stores. I’m halfway sorting out my current stuff and quite a few things will be sold or donated! (and contrary to my previous MO, this will not mean that I can buy new stuff, lol)

Did I get to spend more quality time with my family? Yes and no; this was a rough month for us all for many reasons which I will not explain here, but there were some beautiful moments that I will cherish.

Did I watch less tv? Oh well, Grey’s Anatomy started so that added an hour a week to my preprogrammed viewing. But it was ok, because I knitted at the same time!

This was never just about the money, not for me or for any of the other people who were participating. For me it was about looking at my spending habits and realising that comfort does not come in a pretty package at 9.95 only.

Please excuse me, I will now go and make my donation to Save the Children.

22.9.06

The 2007 Ranger Design Team was announced yesterday and one of the talented people on the list is Roni Johnson, a supertalented, supersweet lady whom I've met at the about.com forum -- I've been in her swaps, so I've seen her wonderful work IRL, too! Congrats Roni, can't wait to see what you come up with next year! In the meanwhile, you can see Roni's work e.g. here.

18.9.06

I spent about 30€ on something that easily counts as unnecessary; I went out. No excuses, it was money wasted BUT I had a lovely time. Had two drinks, and shared a coffee with a friend (as I ran out out money, lol).

I'm a little bit dissappointed in me but I will not hold this against myself; I've still spent 0€ on craft supplies, and spent a lot less in food than normally.

16.9.06

I've almost finished my "same supplies, many looks"-challenge" but I cannot get a bottle cap and the green foil into the page; I have no ideas of how to use them in the LO I have... I will go back upstairs and stare at them some more.

13.9.06

OK, I will not cancel my dental appointment because it's September, I will pay the approx. $50 that it costs and be happy that I only have one chipped tooth rather than several cavities. DD had an appointment today, and that was free of charge. Most days I really appreciate the taxes we pay and the services we get in return; today is one of those days.

Oh and my shopping yesterday went well, got milk, bread, bananas, carrots and eggs. Will go for minced meat today. Been using up a lot of things in the cupboards (we don't have a pantry in the scale most people do) and discovered some out of date items that got tossed. Will try to clean the linen closet this evening.

8.9.06

Some time ago I signed up for a "same supplies, many looks" challenge at my fav. forum at about.com. I got my amazing kit today, you can see it here -- if the link works, that is! I got the kit #12. I'm trying to come up with ideas this weekend, but you see, there's the patterned paper that I fear :)

5.9.06

I think I will need to limit my online time because I keep coming across wonderful sites that have lovely things that tempt me, like these stamps. As it is, I have many stamps I rarely use, so I will go upstairs, dig into my stash and see if there is anything I can sell or give away. Wish me luck!

4.9.06

Another babystep: DD is generally very good about eating her oatmeal, she has it in daycare every morning and enjoys an occassional bowlful in the evening at home, but lately she's been asking for more "fun" breakfast items during the weekends. This weekend, however, oatmeal was a success because I called it "the ultimate breakfast that many figure skaters enjoy". (DD has just started skating lessons.) She even drank a glass of milk, which is very rare!

It's all about the marketing, isn't it, creating the want and the need. Hey if I can pull this off with a 5-year-old, no wonder the marketing professionals can make me crave for all sorts of weird and unnecessary things :)

1.9.06

Here's a little something I made last night: acrylics and magazine cutouts and dymo on a canvas panel (12 x 18 cm). The texts say: "Are you confident with your personal hygiene when you meet her or go out" and "is it forbidden from young girls".

31.8.06

Ok, so this might not be a huge revelation in the sense of "a manifestation of divine will or truth" but it was certainly an eye-opener for me. I made a small batch of pancakes for DD and DH last night and realised there was no jam in the house. Rather than doing what I would normally do, i.e. put on my shoes and get some from the closest store, I asked, "hey is sugar ok since we have no jam?" and they said "sure". So, here is the revelation: we can do without.

29.8.06

Why is it that I cannot learn to close containers with lids? Having just spent 5 minutes crawling on the bedroom floor looking for eyelets, brads and other little objects you'd think I'd know better from now on...

I feel good about the decision to spend less money next month. A lot of my purchases are for comfort rather than need so it should be interesting to see how I will react during the first days; will I catch myself almost buying stuff or will I end up avoiding shops as much as I can.

28.8.06

I came across this. I'm doing it with the parameters that I will cut "luxury items" from our grocery list (no sodas or candy or anything we don't really need) as well as trips to the closest take aways and cafes. I will not buy any craft supplies during the month of September. I will spend less time watching tv and more time with my family (they don't know I'm doing this yet...). Let's see how it goes.

As to the why, it makes sense, doesn't it. I can live with less, my family can live with less. There are others who need more, so why not try to create some balance. If you think it's naive, then try it first.

27.8.06

Ok, I'm taking babysteps here. Finalising some swaps, simple stuff to give me instant gratification. Here's a little something I made this morning for a retro-swap, found the image online, the rub-ons say "those were the days..." and as a final touch I added a hairpin with a little ribbon tied to it.

22.8.06

I'm in a rut. I've looked at my materials, I've tried a few things, nothing works. So I go and look for inspiration online. Here are my fav. blogs at the moment, in no particular order: Francine, Ali E., Violet, Breanne, Susanna and Elsie F.. Go visit these ladies' blogs and be inspired.

15.8.06

It really pays off to hoard things like little notebooks and pretty boxes, you never know when you need make a quick pressie for someone. This notebook is for a colleague. Sincere apologies for the lack of any photo quality, I took this one with my phone...

9.8.06

I was supposed to get some "me-time" and scrap, but instead I'm getting on the train early tomorrow morning and meeting my SIL in Tampere. Might check out the local craftstores... So I bid y'all fairwell, see you on Sunday!

3.8.06

This is where we are going this weekend... taking the train to Turku (almost 8 hours), just to spend a day with the Moomins. DD has been waiting for this trip for almost two years now, so hopefully she will enjoy it...

31.7.06

Here's the cover and a sample spread from the gift album I just finished. It's a tiny thing, ATC-sized! I used two types of circles as embellishments, and varied only their place a little, keeping it simple. Blurred everyone else's faces but my own, since the photo was taken 29 years ago, I've seen worse shots of myself, lol!

28.7.06

I'm working on old photos for a change, well, relatively old, 30 yrs or so. Scannning them in and printing out some of them for a gift album I want to finish this weekend. So many memories, some good laughs and some tears, too.

1.7.06

28.6.06

I was trying to come up with a sea-themed ATC last night. Couldn't figure out what to do for plants, any ideas?? I've versamarked (can you use that as a verb?) some leaves on the card, but they are not right at all, you can sort of see them if you look closely ...what to do, what to do!?

27.6.06

Ok, here's my pink page (also see a post below about recycling a page). I added my journalling on a tag, you can see the fibers but the tag is hidden. The journalling tells the story about my DD having a bath one night and going beserk afterwards, running, dancing, screaming and laughing. Then all of a sudden she walked to the camera and looked right at it. Total peace.

I'm back home -- alone. DH and DD are spending two more days on the countryside :) Started to sort out stuff and found this page I made for a friendly competition on one of the lists I participate in; everyone scrapped the same photo.

I already found a photo to replace the current one so stop by later to see how the page looks now.

13.6.06

When I noticed Creating Keepsakes was selling a nifty little album with premade embellishments, I ordered two just to see what they were like. The albums are cool, but I wasn't too keen on all the premade stuff.

Last night I was looking at the stuff again, trying to decide if I should keep it or sell it online and decided to give it a go. Here's the first page, DD making silly faces in a German train :)

11.6.06

Here's the layout I did with the photo of my grandmom and her two sons. I scanned and printed the photo out, the lo is 12 x 12.

My journalling is written on a tag and hidden, you can see a little circle clip that holds it in place behind the lo.

Journalling: Santra and her two sons in 1921, my uncle and dad, a sweet little boy at 4 years of age. I don't know what their life was like really, their dad worked hard as a farmer and the boys must have helped him. When my dad died in 1982, I was 15 and going through the worst teenager angst. I was sad and hated him for not giving me a chance to get to know him as a person. Now that I would love to hear about his thoughts and feelings, he's gone, as is pretty much everyone else. That is one of the reasons I'm sharing my memories with you, my DD, to make sure you know how I feel and what I think. I love you today, and forever.

This is a picture of my grandmom, whom I never met, and her two sons. The cute little boy with blonde hair is my dad. The photo was taken in 1921 and for years my sister and I thought it had been lost for good, until last week she found it! Needless to say it has been scanned in and printed out and the files have been burned on to a cd. I'm working on a layout on this one as well as on a series of ATCs so please stay tuned. It's my dad!!

27.5.06

21.5.06

One of the fondest memories from my childhood has to be the one night every year when I was allowed to stay up really late; the night of the Eurovision song contest. I haven't been watching it for years now, but had to last night. Lordi bloody well won the thing. This is so funny!

20.5.06

J is for Journals has a bit of journalling on the back: When I was a kid and had to deal with all the pains of growing up, I did a lot of journalling. Somewhere along the journey I lost my voice. I'm now learning to write about me and my life again.

Supplies: Background stamp from TAC and the key diecut is made with my QuicKutz.

J is for Jouni has a name of a song scribbled on the back. The song pretty much summarizes how I've been feeling lately. Oh and Jouni is a friend, in case you wonder, and he will get this card as soon as he asks me over for coffee (Sunday ok for you?).

Supplies: the letter stencil is from Ma Vinci (I love that place!!), it's been covered with all sorts of randomly stamped images from Ink and the Dog, Ma Vinci and Sunday International. A little dragonfly brad on the one corner and a bat eyelet on the other; a bit of an inside joke there.